Various hand-held, personal vaporizing devices are currently available. Some of these have been specifically designed to produce a nicotine-infused vapor for the purpose of serving, as an alternative to smoking, a traditional tobacco cigarette wherein the tobacco is ignited and the user inhales the smoke and its constituents—including the nicotine-a naturally occurring constituent of tobacco. Devices used for the purpose of cigarette alternatives produce a vapor devoid of most of the 4000+ chemicals and byproducts of tobacco smoke and, therefore, deliver nicotine to the user, through ingestion of the vapor, without most of the harm normally associated with tobacco smoke.
Unfortunately, disadvantages still remain in the design and performance of these vaporizing devices. For example, some devices are bulky or cumbersome to use as a transportable, hand-held device.
Other vaporizing devices are incapable of delivering precise, consistent, and reliable metered doses of the medicant. Current electronic atomization cigarettes do not provide for a method to control the consistency of the volume of liquid vaporized nor the volume of vapor produced and, as a result, cannot produce a measurable amount of nicotine on a per vaporization basis. There are certain circumstances and situations, including those where regulations might dictate, where it may well be required that these devices be capable of delivering vapor and its nicotine constituent in a manner that enables the amount of nicotine present in the vapor be measurable and consistently repeated with each and every engagement by the user. In addition to or in lieu of nicotine, a vaporizer might be used to deliver other substances to the user, including medicants. Similarly, a precise measured “dose” may be desired, or even required for these substances.
In addition, because some of the devices on the market use a liquid storage unit that is “open” to the atmosphere, some devices leak or fail to perform reliably unless the vaporizing device is maintained in an upright position during use, or during the packaging, shipping, and storage of the device. Furthermore, with such devices, the liquid may be subject to contamination, adulteration and/or evaporation under certain conditions.
Finally, most, if not all, current commercially available products use lithium chemistry batteries as their power source. This is primarily due to three factors: 1) the useful life of the battery; 2) the power needed to vaporize the fluid; and, 3) the requirement for a small compact device roughly the size of traditional tobacco products—i.e. cigarettes and cigars, or in on-tobacco or nicotine formulations, the need for compactness in order to be discretely employed by the user in circumstances where discretion is appropriate. Lithium chemistry batteries, however, are volatile, hazardous (both in that they can release noxious vapors as well as potential for explosion under certain conditions) and environmentally challenging with respect to storage, reliability, and disposability.
It is anticipated that the lithium chemistry power source of hand-held portable devices will become an issue for U.S. regulators, distributors, retailers, and consumers as the current product gets more widely distributed and used and as more uses for the devices are identified, manufactured, distributed, sold and consumed.
Therefore, there is still a need for a device and method for providing an improved hand-held vapor delivery system that reliably and consistently produces a repeatable metered dose of a medicant in a safe, efficient, and effective manner.